Car-heater.



W. STABY.

CAR HEATER. APPLICATION FILED JULY 31, 19-12.

Patented Nov. 28, 1916.

WILHELM STABY, 0F LUDWIGSHAFEN-ON-THE-RHINE, GERMANY.

GAR-HEATER.

neonate.

. Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 28, I916.

Application filed July 31, 1912. Serial No. 712,566.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, WVILHELM STABY, a subject of the Emperor of Germany, residing at Ludwigshafen-on-the-Rhine, Germany, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Car-Heaters, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact specification.

The present invention has for its object improvements in car heaters and it relates chiefly to devices for mixing air and the steam used for heating railway trains by means of an air pump which is operated by the heating steam itself.

The invention includes improvements in devices for regulating the volume of the air to be mixed with the steam in accordance with the changing conditions of the steam depending upon the variations of the quantity of steam used during the different working phases of the engines. In such devices the efficiency of the air and steam supplying device 2'. c. the amount of air which said pump can pump in view of the surplus of en-' ergy of the working steam fed from the locomotive boiler and the materially lower pres sure in the steam heating conduit, largely depends on the quantity of the steam actually required for heating. This quantity, as will be understood, is variable according to the temperature prevailing and to the length of the trains to be heated. As the heating steam alone is used for operating the steam supplying means and as the quantity of the steam used is subject to great changes on account of the variations during the different working phases of the engine, the quantity and velocity of flow of the steam in the steam supplying means are decreasing with the decrease in the heat consumption consequently the efficiency of the steam supplying means is impaired with respect to the amount of the air drawn in. On the other hand however when it is moderately cold it is desirable to mix in the front car of a train a greater quantity of air with the heating steam in order to reduce the heating capacity thereof so that the temperature of the steam and air mixture and the radiation of the heat are proportionally and suitably reduced. Experiments have shown that better results are obtained by proportionally admitting cold air to the steam instead of preheated air as has been done before. In order to obtain this result a regulating member is provided allowing the feeding of air either coming from a preheating air chamber arranged within the smoke box of a locomotlve or coming dlrectly from the.

atmosphere. This regulating member is so connected with the regulating valve of the steam supplying means controlling the amount of high pressure steam fed thereto, that in case of fully opening the regulating valve the air is drawn in from the preheating chamber while in case of partly opening said steam regulating valve the air is taken in from the atmosphere, while in the intermediate positions of the valve it is aspirated partly from the outside and partly from the preheating chamber.

In the accompanying drawing in which the same letters of reference refer to the same parts throughout the several views: Figure 1 shows the air mixing device at the front part of a locomotive boiler in side view. Fig. 2 is a vertical section on the line 22 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 illustrates on a larger scale the pumping device with the regulating members for steam and air in side view. Fig. 4 is a rearend view of the device partly in section on line 4.-l of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 illustrates the parts shown in Fig. 4 in'plan view. Figs. 6, 7 and 8 are diagrammatic sectional views of the air regulating member during the various positions of the regulating slide thereof.

The front end of the heating steam conduit 1 is connected at one side of the locomotive boiler 2 to a steam and air supplying device 3. This device is fed with the working steam by means of a pipe 5 connected to the locomotive boiler through a cut-off valve 4. In said pipe 5 a control ling valve 6 is provided adapted to be controlled from the drivers cab by means of a controlling spindle 7 The lateral suction pipe 8 of the steam and air suction device 8 is connected through an air regulating valve 9 with a preheating chamber 11 built semi-circularly into the upper part of the smoke box 10 of the locomotive. On that side of the'locomotive' boiler opposite to the steam and air supplying device there is arranged at the side of the smoke box; a conical air-collecting funnel 12 having its wider opening directed toward the front and communicating by means of an elbow pipe 13 with the adjoining part of the preheating chamber 11.

. the discharge opening of the intake pipe 'the gradually enlarging aperture of the.

stem 14 or the straight channel 16 leading to the air preheating chamber or bothelementspartly'in a varying ratio.

To the axle of rotation 17 of the valve piece 15 outside of the casing a lever 18'- is connected which is in turn connected with the spindle 7 of the regulating valve 6' by means of a bell crank lever 19, 20. In consequence of these connections the revolving valve piece 15 of the. air regulating valve is displaced concurrently with the steam regulating cock valve 6. The dimensions of the connecting elements are selected or predetermined so as to be properly proportionated to the passage opening of the steam regulating cock 6 in such a way that upon a slight opening oft-he steamcoek valve the 'valve piece 15 is shutting off the connecting pipe 16 z. e. the connection with the preheating chamber asshown in Fig. 6. With steam cook the valve piece 15 is gradually moved into its intermediate position as shown in- Fig. 7 wherein both the pipe-stem 14 and the pipe 16 are partly shut off or opened, whereas ultimately,-when' the steam cock 6 is fully opened the valve piece 15 is shutting off the pipe-stem 14 while establishing' a connection of the suction device with the preheating chamber 11.

- In case it is moderately cold or only short trams are to be heated, the steam cock 6 is only slightly opened in proportion to the 7 reduced consumption of steam and the air regulating slide valve 15 is cutting off the connection of the intake pipe of the suction device with the preheating chamber 11, whereas the pipe stem 14: is fully opened so that only cold air isdrawn immediately from the atmosphere In this manner the eiiiciency of the suction device is slightly increased having formerly been reduced due to the reduction of the amount of steam leaving the nozzle of the suction device. By mixing cold air with the steam the temperature of the: mixture is. lowered and thus the inconveniences resulting from overheating the train are avoided.

In case the full heating capacity of the device is required for instance if low temperatures are prevailing or if comparatively long trains are to be heated, the steam cock 6 is fully opened and the slide valve piece 15 then shuts ofi the pipe-stem 14 so that the air is drawn from the preheating chamber 11 alone. The air enters this chamber from the outside through the air gathering funnel 12 which during the fast run of the train is forcing the air under a certain pres sure into the preheating chamber assisting in this manner the suction effect of the steam jet blower. By preheating the air the mechanical efficiency of the suction device is reduced in an indirect proportion to the increase in temperature in the preheating chamber, as however on the other hand the steam jet blower working now with its full capacity has a greater efiiciency than when working with a reduced steam supply; therefore the harmful influence of the preheating of air upon the etliciency of the apparatus is balanced and only the advantageous heating action of the preheater for the air is prevailing which owing to the omission of the heating of the air in the steam and air supplying system itself brings about a reduction of the loss by compensation in the latter and consequently produces an increase in the temperature of the mixture.

In the intermediate position between the two positions described corresponding intermediate results areobtained as one portion of the air is drawn in from the preheater and the other portion from the outside and the air is thus only heated to a moderate degree. With the increase in the steam supply the temperature of the air taken in is increased accordingly so as to approximately balance the favorable and unfavorable influences acting upon the efficiency of the suction device and thereby a substantial uniform radiation of heat under the various conditions on a train is produced.

The valve 6 may also be replaced by a suitable lifting valve for regulating the steam supply and in such case the operating members must of course be connected conveniently with the air regulating valve 9.

I claim:

' A car heating device in combination with a locomotive, comprising a semi-circular air heating chamber, within the upper part of the smoke box of said locomotive, an air intake at one side, and an exhaust at the other side of. said chamber, a valve controlled steam and air supply device, an air regulating valve in the conduit between said momma steam and air supply device and said air heating chamber, said conduit being provided with a tapered air inlet pipe stem, a two-Way valve piece in said air regulating valve and means of predetermined dimensions connecting said two-way valve with the steam supply valve for regulating the supply of steam, cold air and preheated air by alternately closing the steam conduit,

10 the cold air inlet and the conduit to the pre- WILHELM STABY.

Witnesses JOSEPH PFEIFFER,

S. H. SHANK.

Hopies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the fiommissioner 0t Patentt, Washington; D. G. 

